Data & Docs

The Murder Accountability Project makes available to police and the general public all of the data files it uses for this Website. These files are assembled in SPSS format and will run with the open source program PSPP available at no cost from Gnu Software. These files are also available in Comma Separated Values format (CSV) which will load into any statistical software. Contact Thomas Hargrove if you have questions about these files. His e-mail address is available here.To download the complete Uniform Crime Report data summarizing all homicides and homicide clearances reported from 1965 to the present (the information on the "Clearance Rates" tab) assembled in SPSS format, click here. To download this file in Comma Separated Values format (CSV), click here.To download the case-level data from Supplementary Homicide Report (the information on the "Search Cases" tab) in SPSS format, including more than 28,000 homicides obtained by MAP through the Freedom of Information Act for homicides not reported to the Justice Department, click here. To download this file in Comma Separated Values format (CSV), click here. To download a "data dictionary" describing each of the 31 variables in MAP's version of the Supplementary Homicide Report, click here.To see the Murder Accountability Project's computer algorithm to be run with the SPSS file above (Supplementary Homicide Report) to identify highly suspicious clusters of murders that may contain serial killings, click here.To download the "How to Use" four-page briefing document which the Murder Accountability Project distributes to homicide investigators, including instructions on how to access case details on individual homicides contained in the Supplementary Homicide Report, click here.The Murder Accountability Project has prepared an essay defining the words “link” and “match” as they are applied to the study of serial homicide. This is intended to aid understanding of descriptive terminology and explains the differences between linked cases and
matched cases. To download this essay by MAP Board Member Eric W. Witzig, a retired homicide detective and former FBI supervisor, click here.The Murder Accountability Project's Board of Directors has prepared a one-page briefing paper on disturbing trends for homicide crimes in the United States and the issues affecting declining murder clearance rates. To download the M.A.P. "Talking Points" document, click here.The Murder Accountability Project is an outgrowth of a 2010 national reporting project conducted by the newspapers and television stations owned by the E.W. Scripps Co. The computer algorithm that can spot serial killings within FBI computer files was developed as part of that project. To download a copy of the award-winning project "Murder Mysteries" click here.MAP also makes available the original FBI master files from which most of these records were obtained. To download the FBI's very large (6.8 gigabyte) master data files of the Uniform Crime Report's "Return A" showing summaries of total homicides committed and cleared through arrest for the years 1960 to the present (in ZIP archive format with the necessary data dictionary) click here. (Note: These records generally require sophisticated software like R, SAS or SPSS.)To download the 137-megabyte data files of the FBI's original Supplementary Homicide Report showing details of individual cases covering years 1976 to the present with the necessary data dictionary, click here. (Note: These are the official FBI records and do not include tens of thousands of records obtained by the Murder Accountability Project under the Freedom of Information Act.)To download a copy of the 2004 edition of the Justice Department's Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook, click here. For a copy of the 2013 user manual for the National Incident-Based Reporting System, NIBRS, which is how all major crimes will be reported in the future, click here.To download the PowerPoint presentation given by MAP to the Justice Clearinghouse's Webinar for law enforcement personnel October 9, 2018, click here. (Warning, this 160-megabyte file is large because it contains embedded videos demonstrating how to use the MAP site.)